Angela Slatter's Blog, page 57

Colouring Outside the Lines: Fran Wilde

Photo Credit Dan Magus

Fran Wilde’s work includes the Andre Norton-, and Compton Crook Award-winning, and Nebula-nominated novel Updraft and its sequel Cloudbound, publishing from Tor in September 2016. Her short stories appear in Asimov’s, Tor.com, Beneath Ceaseless Skies, and Nature. Her novella The Jewel and Her Lapidary is available from Tor.com Publishing. She writes for publications including The Washington Post, Tor.com, Clarkesworld, iO9.com, and GeekMom.com. You can find her on twitter @fran_wilde.

1. First of all, what do new readers need to know about Fran Wilde?

My tendency is to color outside the lines – I write all over the genres, occasionally drop a poem, and sometimes draw cartoons when I should be writing.

My favorite topics to mess with recently include social class, disruptive technology, engineering, artisan culture, birds, flight, monsters, military optics, very bad gemstones, and the ghost of Tallulah Bankhead.

I’m funnier on twitter.

2. What inspired your Tor.com novella “The Jewel and Her Lapidary”?

Years ago, I worked as a jeweler’s assistant. I learned how to manipulate metals, solder, and stones (and how not to). The craft and science that goes into that process has always fascinated me. At the same time, I got a firsthand look at how people respond — from facial expressions to the ways their eyes light up — in the presence of different kinds of gemstones. That made me want to explore the kind of control gemstones might exert in a secondary world, and the trouble they could get up to.

“The Jewel and Her Lapidary” is a facet of a larger set of stories that range in length. The short story “The Topaz Marquise” is available for free at Beneath Ceaseless Skies.

3. What can you tell us about your new novel Cloudbound?

Cloudbound is a companion novel to Updraft. Same world – a city of living bone rising high above the clouds -, different narrator… which I am very excited about! Within you’ll find monsters, politics, wings and wind, and a whole lot of… well. We’re heading down into the clouds, so you’ll be discovering a lot of things alongside the characters.

4. Can you remember the first story you read that made you think “I want to be a writer”?

As an adult, Genevieve Valentine’s short story “Bespoke” (Strange Horizons) reminded me that I could be a writer. “A Bead of Jasper and Four Small Stones” (Clarkesworld) drove the point home.

As a child, probably both The Phantom Tollbooth, because I was fascinated by how playful it was, and Tuck Everlasting.

5. Do you prefer long form to short?

I like both equally. Depends on what form fits the story. I’ve written stories as short as 250 words (“You are Two Point Three Meters from Your Destination” – Uncanny Magazine) all the way up to novel-length.

6/7. You get to invite five fictional characters to dinner – who do you choose and why? 

Cent, from Steven Gould’s Exo; Agnesika from Naomi Novik’s Uprooted; A through L the wyvern from Cat Valente’s The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making; Helva from Anne McCaffrey’s The Ship Who Sang; Yeine from N.K. Jemisin’s The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, and Karen Memery from Elizabeth Bear’s Karen Memory because I think that would be an incredibly badass girl (& wyvern) gang and who cares about dinner when you’re a badass girl gang that can teleport, do tree magic, roll with gods, sail the universe, and generally overthrow standard assumptions while riding a modified steampunk sewing machine?

8. Name your five favourite books (yes, I know that’s mean).

Right now? I’ve recently enjoyed:

Jane Steele, by Lindsay Faye
The Radch Series (aka Ancillary Justice & etc) by Anne Leckie
Luna by Ian Macdonald
Everfair by Nisi Shawl (out in September)
Karen Memory by Elizabeth Bear
The Fifth Season / Obelisk Gate series by N.K. Jemisin
Absolutely anything by Aliette de Boddard

All Time (yes, totally cheating & also I can’t count)?

Annals of the Former World by John McPhee (nonfiction – a geological history of the United States as told through roadcuts.)
The Phantom Tollbooth, by Norm Juster
The Penguin Book of Modern Fantasy By Women (1995, Penguin) because of the scope within, because there’s SF hiding among the fantasy… So many reasons.
First Light, by Richard Preston (nonfiction, space telescopes)
The short story collections Burning Chrome by William Gibson & Looking for Jake by China Miéville
Synners by Pat Cadigan
The Book of Sand, Borges

What? … that’s five. Plus a few.

9. If you could recommend one book that everyone should read, what would it be?

I would suggest everyone read (aloud if possible) at least one book of poetry in their lifetime – purely for the sound mechanics. It doesn’t matter what kind of poetry – the most important thing is that it’s something you can return to and learn about in layers. But if pressed, I’d probably hand out poets like Wislawa Szymborska, Lynda Hull, Wordsworth, Ai, Rita Dove, Gerard Manley Hopkins, H.D., Elizabeth Bishop, Seamus Heaney, Keats, Chinua Achebe, Pablo Neruda, Ossip Mandelstam, Tracy K. Smith, or Eavan Boaland, depending on the person.

Or, barring that, The Watchmen by Alan Moore.

10. What’s next for Fran Wilde?

Cloudbound launches September 27, and I can’t wait. I’m finishing the third book in that group, which is currently called Title TBD. I have a short story coming out in Shimmer in August, and a few other projects that haven’t been announced yet. Plus more gemworld stories.

It’s safe to assume online shenanigans will continue.

 

The Doctor in the TARDIS

So darned happy. I literally got to be the Doctor in the TARDIS this afternoon.

Pre-recording a segment at ABC Radio National Perth for ABC Radio National Brisbane! I’ll be talking about Vigil and general writerly things this eve on Evenings with David Curnow (7pm-10pm – not three hours of me, though, that would be nuts)… with Sarah Howells!

From the freaking TARDIS.

One happy nerd here.

Despatches from KSP: Day One

Welcome basket from KSP. Contains chocolate!

Travel is the great discombobulator.

We are taken out of our normal environment, sundered from our daily routines. Our habits, we find, are no longer easy. This can make us grumpy: we go to put our coffee cup in its usual place but the usual place isn’t there. Not to mention that our favourite coffee mug isn’t there either. Cue: disgruntlement.

When you’re a writer it can be even worse because our writing routines – our creative processes – are often synched with our habits to the point where we think they are utterly entwined and meant to stay that way. We sit in the same spot; we have our desk set up in a certain way, facing a special direction; yes, we put our favourite coffee cup (and all the other coffee cups in the grand hierarchy of coffee cups) on the same coaster at a particular point on said desk for maximum grabability and minimum chance of spillage on the keyboard. Habits are comforting, reliable, but they can also become guards in a prison of our own making.

“I cannot write unless I’ve got my: favourite cup, coffee, tea blend, am facing nor-nor-east, wearing my lucky undies, my blue sweater, a hat made from the wings of angels, using this specific pen or pencil on this particular kind of paper/in this especial notebook, after turning widdershins around my desk.”

Sound familiar? Your habits have become rules, obstacles, fetishes. Those of you of the right vintage will recall an episode of The Young Ones (young people, go to the Tube of You), where Neil is sitting an exam, but spends all of his time setting up the things he “needs”: lucky pens and pencils, secondary lucky pens and pencils, favourite notepad, packet of lollies, back-up packet of lollies, lucky gonk, spare lucky gonk … he spends so much time doing this that he runs out of exam time. When you’re indulging in that kind of ritual behaviour with your writing, you’re committing a Neil.

Moreover, you’re giving yourself excuses not to write. You’re able to claim that “circumstances beyond your control” derailed you. It’s not your fault.

It is, you know.

Jeff VanderMeer in Booklife says that we must free ourselves from writing fetishes. You must be able to write anywhere, anytime, using anything. Don’t make your ability to write depend on such silly obstacles: that particular pen doesn’t make your writing better. You and your skill and talent, you stubborn determination, you willingness to commit to starting AND finishing are what make you better. Not using the Mont Blanc pen that cost so much you could have purchased a jet ski for the same amount of money.

Comfy chair, not fetish.

My point? When you travel you can be grumpy about the loss of habit or you can embrace it and learn from it. You can choose to view everything that happens on your trip through a filter of irritation or you can look at everything as a useful opportunity. You can choose to ruin an adventure or look around at the new space and realise it’s something new for you to play with, to adapt to your needs. It’s your new space, you can make it work for you, it is a tabula rasa untainted by all your old habits.

I woke this morning and moved a few things around in my KSP cottage (nothing major, don’t panic!): but the microwave is now on top of the wheelie-shelf-unit-thingy, and the printer is on top of the fridge. As a result my desk has more space (I have more space than I have at home!) and I can spread out my paperwork. I’ve created new habits – those habits are temporary because they are a reaction to a new workspace, but they don’t affect whether I write or not. If I hadn’t been able to move things it wouldn’t have changed whether I wrote or not. I’m able to fit in with a changed environment and work with it. In managements terms I guess I’m “agile” despite my tendency to fall over my own feet.

Habits are hard to break, whether on our home ground or out in the big wide world. The important thing is not to let them break you. Don’t let them stop you from writing. Your creative process depends on you, your motivation, your determination, not the location of your lucky gonk.

 

South Perth Library

So, if you’re in Perth and can’t get out to any of the things I’m doing at KSP, I’ll also be at the South Perth Library for a Words with Wine event.

Fairy stories are part of childhood – who doesn’t remember their favourite; Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Puss in Boots or the Ugly Duckling? But how does one go on from childish delight in princesses, castles, trolls and magic to write award winning fairy stories for adults, re-work the old tales, and end up writing dark urban fantasy set in Brisbane (of all places!)?

Come and enjoy a glass of wine while Angela Slatter explains how this journey unfolded for her. Angela will also read from her works, answer questions and sign books.

Books sales available on the the night thanks to Stefen’s Bookshop.

For booking details, go here.

Alex Caine Lives Again: Alan Baxter

Yes! The Alex Caine series is so good and kickass that it got a second release! Bound, Obsidian, and Abduction are all now in paperback format as well as ebookery.

Alan Baxter is a British-Australian author who writes dark fantasy, horror and sci-fi, rides a motorcycle and loves his dog. He also teaches Kung Fu. He lives among dairy paddocks on the beautiful south coast of NSW, Australia, with his wife, son, dog and cat. He’s the award-winning author of several novels and over sixty short stories and novellas. So far. Read extracts from his novels, a novella and short stories at his website – www.warriorscribe.com – or find him on Twitter @AlanBaxter and Facebook, and feel free to tell him what you think. About anything.

1. What do readers need to know about Alan Baxter?

I’m a writer of speculative fiction, mostly dark weird fantastical stuff, with lashings of horror and occasional forays into science-fiction. I tend to genre-blur a lot and mix in elements of crime, noir, thriller, mystery and so on with my dark weird. I’m also a martial arts instructor, and run the Illawarra Kung Fu Academy as my “day job”. I listen to heavy metal, ride a motorcycle, have a dog who’s a complete numpty and a son who’s a delightful terror. Thankfully my wife helps out with that, and with the Kung Fu, as she’s my deputy instructor there and a master in her own right.

2. Who were/are your literary heroes/influences?

So very many! Clive Barker, H P Lovecraft, Ursula Le Guin, Alan Moore, Garth Ennis, Shirley Jackson, Neil Gaiman, Douglas Adams, Anne McCaffrey… you know what? I could just go on all day doing this. Let’s just say that everything I write is supported on the shoulders of countless giants who wrote before me and many who continue to write now.

3. What was the inspiration for the Alex Caine Series, and will we see more of Alex and Silhouette?

As a martial artist and writer I developed a reputation for writing good fight scenes, so I decided to write a book where the protagonist was an actual career martial artist. Alex Caine is a very successful underground MMA cage fighter. I also had this plot idea knocking around that meant taking the old-fashioned fantasy quest trope and putting it into a modern, dark/horror kind of setting. When I slammed those two things together, Alex Caine 1: Bound was born. While writing it, I realised the story was much bigger and while each novel of the trilogy is a standalone story, there’s a major arc that goes over all three books and is resolved at the end of Abduction.

However, I deliberately let a number of smaller threads hang loose and there are all kinds of opportunities for more books in the Alex Caine Series. I’ve made notes, in fact, so with any luck this trilogy will sell well and I’ll get to write more. I’ve also got a few ideas for some standalone Silhouette stories, probably novella length, so that would be fun too.

4. Name five fictional characters you’d like to meet in the ring.

All-in six person brawl? I like your thinking! Or did you mean one at a time? Anyway, some of the greatest fighters and brawlers from fiction would include Batman and Talia al Ghul – they would both test my skills to the max. Jack Reacher, because I could totally take out that guy and I reckon he’d be up for a scrap. Pinhead, because he’s delivered so much pain, I think it’s time he had some back. (Yeah, I know he has a headful of nails a life of pain, shut up.) Sun Wukong, the Monkey King, from Journey to the West. To be honest, I always wanted to be him, so getting to scrap with him would be aces and the next best thing. We could fight barehanded first, then have a battle using staffs. And Edward Cullen, because if anyone deserves a right bloody kicking…

5. What would you say you learned from writing your early books?

Brevity. I learned how to build a compelling narrative, how to keep the pace up and the pages turning, but both RealmShift and MageSign are around 120,000 words where with The Alex Caine Series each book is around 100,000. I think my improving skills in short fiction contributed to that too. I also learned that it’s bloody hard work and you simply have to sit your arse in the chair and get to work if you want to see anything finished.

6. What’s your favourite short story ever and why?

Nope. Impossible question. I’m not sure I can ever really name one single story, but across the volumes of Clive Barker’s collections, The Books of Blood, are so many favourite stories. Also stuff by Margo Lanagan and Kaaron Warren just blows my mind. I think Stephen King is better at short fiction than novels, but that’s a bit of a controversial opinion. Shirley Jackson’s stories are amazing, as are Edgar Allen Poe’s. And, more contemporary again, I’ve recently talked a lot about Nathan Ballingrud’s collection, North American Lake Monsters, and Laird Barron’s collection, The Beautiful Thing That Awaits Us All, because both are absolutely superb! Look at how cleverly I avoided that awful question of choosing one favourite by listing heaps of reading. I could go on and list loads more too. I can never pick a favourite.

7. When you’re in the mood to read, who is your first choice?

It really depends on the mood. For example, Clive Barker (again!) is always a go-to author for compelling darkness and twisted fantasy. If I want something with precision-sharp prose and heart I’ll go to Ursula Le Guinn. Stephen King for amazing characters. But more often than that, I’m always in the mood to read and I love to discover new and powerful voices. I’ve got into the habit recently of reading one old classic then one newer, more contemporary book. For example, I recently read Peter Straub’s Ghost Story (which is amazing!) and now I’m reading Neal Stephenson’s Seveneves.

8. What was the story/book that made you think ‘I want to write!’?

I’m not sure there was one enlightening moment like that. I can only remember always reading and always writing. I’m sounding like such a fanboy now, and that’s because I am one, but I do remember the first time I read Barker’s The Great and Secret Show I thought, “I want to write like that!” But then, the same thing happened with McCaffrey’s Pern books and Gaiman’s Sandman Cycle and… and… and…

9. Who is your favourite fictional villain and/or hero?

Batman and The Joker. No question. I think they’re each among the best fictional characters ever and combined they’re perfect. They can’t exist without each other. Batman is a desperate force for unattainable order while The Joker is the embodiment of absolute chaos. Because The Joker has no agenda beyond chaos, that makes him genuinely the scariest bastard ever. And of course, Batman appeals to me as the superhero without super powers, just endless hours of physical training, detective skills and mad cool tech. I’d quite like his family fortune too…

10. What’s next for Alan Baxter?

Well, all three books in The Alex Caine Series are out in paperback right about now (June 20th they hit book store shelves), so that’s my primary focus. Then my first collection of short fiction, Crow Shine, is coming from Ticonderoga Publications in September, and I’ll be Guest of Honour at Conflux at the start of October, which is very exciting. The Alex Caine Series starts its international life with Bound being published by Ragnarok Publications in December (with Obsidian and Abduction both out together in July 2017) so for everyone outside Australia and New Zealand, look out for that! I’ve got a standalone monster thriller novel called Primordial that I co-wrote with David Wood being published internationally by Cohesion Press in January. I’ve also got a mystery/police procedural/cosmic horror novella coming out soon – can’t say more at the moment, but can hopefully talk about it before long – and a new standalone noir/cosmic horror novel is out with my agent now, so that will hopefully find a home before too long as well. And on top of that, I’ve got a new standalone horror novel out with beta readers right now, and I’m working on another collaborative novel with David Wood, an action adventure thriller with occult trappings. And I’ve just started work on a new standalone crime noir novel with supernatural leanings. Bloody hell, when you make me write it all down like that it seems like quite a lot. No wonder I’m tired!

And this!

Author copies have landed!

*high-pitched squeals*

Over in the Hachette Australia Office …

… shiny shenanigans are afoot!

The really real Vigil is in da house!

I may well have been doing some next level flailing on the bus as I watched that.

 

Envy of Angels: Matt Wallace

Writemeister, Mr Matt Wallace, is the envy of everyone with his Sin du Jour series for Tor.com. All you really need to know is that his writing is freaking hilarious, he’s also a screenwriter, and he once taught Tai Chi to senior citizens.

1. First of all, what do new readers need to know about Matt Wallace?

I used to be an asshole, but I’m better now. Mostly.

2. Where did the original idea for Envy of Angels (and by extension the Sin Du Jour series) come from?

I remember the first time I talked about it out loud was when I pitched it to my fiancée, Nikki, in the car on our way to Las Vegas. I pitch her all my ideas first. She’s my best and harshest critic, and if I can convince/sell her, I know I can sell anybody. I wanted to write something more contemporary and commercial, which I know sounds ghastly to everyone who has never struggled to make a living as a writer. I’m an avid home cook, foodie, and I spent a lot of time around high-end kitchens when I lived in NYC. Somehow all of that came together to form the germ of an idea about who precisely does the cooking in urban fantasy-type stories for all these fantastical creatures.

3. Your top five novels are …?

DUNE will always be a favorite, despite the fact not all of it has aged well for me. But when you’ve studied and taught knife work for as long as I have, a novel in which the entire political, economic, and ecological fate of the universe is resolved via knife fight will always hold water. Ken Grimwood’s REPLAY, Christa Faust’s HOODTOWN, William Goldman’s HEAT, and Stephen King’s THE RUNNING MAN are all all-time favorites I’ve probably read the most.

4. When did you first start writing and can you remember the first thing you finished?

I started making up stories before I could write. I’d illustrate them and my mother would write the words down for me. I think she still has the first one. It sucked. I’m still a lousy artist, too. The first full-fledged story I can remember finishing was one I wrote for Knott’s Berry Farm’s Ghosts of the Old West Short Story Contest for elementary school kids. It was about two whisky peddling brothers in bowler hats taking their wagon across the country and meeting all manner of figures from western American history and folklore. I won the contest, btw.

5. Who were/are your literary heroes/influences?

When I was a teenager I wanted to be as clever with words as Douglas Adams and as striking with metaphor and simile as Poppy Z. Brite.

6. Which do you prefer: writing the first draft or doing the editing afterwards to make it shiny?

YOU’RE ALLOWED TO MAKE CHANGES AFTER YOU WRITE IT THE FIRST TIME? WHY DIDN’T ANYONE TELL ME?

7. When you’re in the mood to read, who is your first choice?

These days I tend to grab the books I’ve read a million times, because I’m just really damn busy. Silvia Moreno-Garcia, Madeline Ashby, Alyssa Wong, and Kameron Hurley are some of the newer authors I’m excited to read lately when I can find the time

8. Which book, either fictional or otherwise, would you say taught you the most about writing?

The first novel I wrote. It was terrible. It taught me what not to do and what kinda/sorta worked. I think that’s the book that teaches every writer the most about writing. Their first, or their first through their fifth. It depends.

9. You invite five fictional characters for dinner and shenanigans: who makes the guest list?

Four of the Beagle Boys and Scrooge McDuck, at which point I break a pool cue, drop both halves on the floor, turn off the lights and lock the door behind me.

10. What’s next for Matt Wallace?

More books! My next Sin du Jour novella, PRIDE’S SPELL, comes out on June 21st in print and as an ebook from Tor.com Publishing, and we’ll be doing four more Sin du Jour books after that throughout 2017 and 2018. I’m also finishing my first epic fantasy novel. In-between all of that I am writing for the moving pictures, with an emphasis on the small screen, and will hopefully have more to talk about there soon.

 

Reminder: Vigil giveaway

Tomorrow is the last day, Oz readers, to enter the Goodreads giveaway of Vigil.

Just saying.

Like, here.

PS: When I’ve got my author copies, America, I’ll do a giveaway just for you!